The technical tour conducted as part of the 8th edition of International District Energy Association (IDEA) District Cooling Conference and Tradeshow 2018 which was held at Atlantis The Palm, Dubai, was a major highlight and witnessed an active participation of international delegates from District Energy sector. The participants of the Conference and Tradeshow had an opportunity to visit the Palm Jumeirah Crescent 2 plant owned and operated by Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), the world’s largest district cooling services provider, and observed its operations in detail. The delegates also visited the district cooling Energy Transfer Station (ETS), Filtration Room and Aquarium of Atlantis Hotel and Aquaventure Waterpark at The Palm.
During the technical tour, participants had an opportunity to explore some of the best practices in district cooling process as well as had access to advanced operational strategies. The three-day conference was hosted by Empower and the US-based IDEA held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and Chairman & CEO of the Emirates Airline & Group.
One of the striking features of the technical tour was the visit to ETS plant rooms of the Atlantis, where the cooling energy supplied by Empower is transferred to various applications. The energy splits in the room and distributes evenly for cooling the building as well as to other processes including Atlantis Aquarium which is the largest in the region. Empower serves 45,000 refrigerator tons of cooling energy to the Atlantis from its plants located in the Crescent of The Palm. While the tanks are serviced by district cooling solutions through Empower, it is for the first time in the world that water tanks use district cooling as a solution to operate.
Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower, said: “Empower has always been committed to a forward-looking vision, and implementing district cooling solutions across varied projects and utilities reinforces our strength to make the UAE, and Dubai in particular a place with landmark endeavours. With this technical tour, our aim was to shine the spotlight on new and emerging technologies in district cooling, whilst introducing participants to lesser known strategies.”
In the UAE, especially in Dubai, district cooling has been widely adopted as a credible alternative to conventional air-conditioning systems. Favourable government initiatives towards sustainable power generation along with increasing customer focus towards energy efficiency coupled with the implementation of innovative solutions will further augment the district cooling sector.
Empower currently operates over 1.34 Million RT, providing environmentally responsible district cooling services to large-scale real estate developments, such as Jumeirah Group, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Dubai International Financial Centre, Business Bay, Dubai Healthcare City, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Palm Jumeirah, Discovery Gardens, Ibn Battuta Mall, Dubai Design District and International Media Production Zone, among others.